Corporate - Solitude Liveaboards and Resorts

Introduction

Coming together of similar minds, the founders aimed to create a group of resorts and liveaboards, in exotic destinations famed for their beautiful waters and people with warm hearts. We are focused on hospitality, aiming to provide good value in warm and welcoming accommodations, while also always focusing on people – both guests as well as staff. Striving to make all our guests feel like they are VVIPs while developing our staff to be the best they can be at what they do, and allowing them to expand their experience.

Starting with a single scuba liveaboard vessel in 2013, we have grown steadily and currently have a total of two vessels and two resorts under either direct ownership, brand licensing, or management and brand licensing. Constantly looking towards expanding our business and reviewing opportunities like land-based dive centres, scuba liveaboards and boutique cruise vessels, and boutique resorts, we aspire to continue growing in the hospitality space, ultimately including retirement homes/villages and gated communities to our portfolio.

Values

An established name in the industry, Solitude Liveaboards & Resorts is all about quality service and professionalism in world-class dive destinations. Comfort, Safety, and Communication; three simple core values enable us to be great hosts to our guests and business partners

Comfort

We endeavour to provide our guests with the feel and ambience of being pampered in surroundings where they feel as if they are part of the family. Modern living comforts with space to spread out and find your own cozy privacy if desired, our properties and vessels are designed tastefully to balance use and practicality to maximize enjoyment and relaxation.

Safety

Safety is paramount in Solitude’s way of life in work and play. It starts from the day we conceptualize and build our vessels and resorts by ensuring they are equipped with the right instruments, equipment, systems, and processes. Education and training for our Solitude team are also regularly conducted to keep them current. Local environment knowledge is important, which is accumulated through either our own extended tenure in the places we operate in or engaging experienced locals if required.

Communication

Good communication is one of our core values to winning the confidence and trust of our guests and staff. For our guests, it starts from the first point of contact in their inquiries to the final preparation before embarking on their journey. The emphasis of communication is cascaded from the moment our team receives our guests to bidding farewell. For our staff, training is a continuous activity, be it constantly working to improve our service standards, or maintaining equipment. Guests’ feedback is taken seriously and relevant departments are debriefed accordingly.

In addition to our Core Values, we all subscribe and live by our ethos of being “REAL”:

Reliability

Every team member of Solitude is trusted to consistently deliver the same high standard of customer service and professionalism. They ultimately share the importance of reliability and communication to the guests’ overall experience and the company.

Efficiency

We believe our team members work best in a work environment that is positive and inspiring. A positive work environment helps bring many other benefits that help foster an efficient work environment, such as engagement levels, improving team dynamics and helps promote a better work-life balance of our staff.

Accountability

Sharing in Solitude’s mission, values, and goals means that staff at all levels are aware of their responsibility to meet our targets. This is balanced with individual team members having autonomy in their roles; it is essential they feel empowered in their jobs to strive to improve and help Solitude collectively reach new horizons in performance.

Leadership

Social Responsibility

We are committed to sustainability by minimizing our impact to the environment (reducing waste and increase recycling/reuse) and leaving a positive impact on society (inspiring locals to increase workforce skills and standard of living).

The Philippines & Palau

Solitude One

M/V Solitude One (https://solitude-one.com/) – Directly owned – 52m blue-ocean capable liveaboard for 22 guests serving Philippines, Palau, and Micronesia. Originally a Japanese Maritime Research Vessel built to Class NK (IACS) and operating throughout the Pacific Ocean, she underwent an approximately US$2million complete refit in 2012/2013, including compliance to GMDSS and SOLAS requirements, and incorporating designs for functionality and comfort. She is self-supported by two skiffs for diving and one general-purpose tender.

Indonesia

Solitude Adventurer

M/V Solitude Adventurer (https://solitude-adventurer.com/) – Brand Licensee – A 36m catamaran built to Lloyd’s Register (IACS), was converted in 2017/2018 from a private family yacht to commercial hospitality. Capable of hosting 18 scuba divers in comfort and unparalleled amounts of space while cruising the richly biodiverse waters of the Indonesian Archipelago. Being a multi-hull vessel, guests benefit significantly from the stability that other monohull vessels cannot provide.

Anilao, Philippines

Solitude Acacia Resort

Solitude Acacia Resort (https://solitude-acacia.com/) – Brand Licensee and Managed – Located in Mabini, Philippines, is a modern boutique resort of 25 spacious and well-appointed rooms that do not intrude on the tropical gardens or the surrounding natural beauty. The rooms are structurally spread among four blocks; two blocks facing the sea, and two other blocks offering garden views. While known globally for scuba diving, the resort frequently hosts couples and families looking for a cozy and comfortable getaway from the hustle and bustle of urban living.

Lembeh, Indonesia

Solitude Lembeh Resort

Solitude Lembeh Resort (https://solitude-lembeh.com/) – Directly owned – Located in Bitung, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, the resort is set in vibrant tropical gardens perched right above the water’s edge facing Pulau Lembeh which lies just across the Strait. While known as the “macro and critter capital” of diving, Lembeh also provides photographers with interesting and varied wide-angle backdrops. The resort, serving discerning scuba-divers as well as nature park lovers, is designed to ensure guests enjoy the intimate exclusivity and privacy of the natural landscape.

Marketing

Solitude Liveaboards and Resorts is known globally to provide guests with exemplary personal service and a level of recognition that they have come to rely upon. We provide guests with a comfortable, relaxed environment to unwind and recuperate during their vacation or conduct aspects of their business.

Our key clients stem from both international and domestic markets, with the majority of our customers being from Western Europe and North America. However, with our presence at various international trade shows and global publications over the years, we have identified strong growth potential and increased demand from South America and North Asia, which we will continue to seek and target in our marketing strategies.

International agents currently provide the majority of bookings; however, there has been a steady and consistent growth in FIT recommendations and bookings predominantly originating through word-of-mouth advertising as well as social media. Despite this growth in third-party recommendations, our intention, especially in light of the global pandemic, will be to increase the number of bookings we receive directly through our current and upcoming marketing strategies.

Corporate Management

Kit Chung

Founder & Executive Director

Kit Chung – one of the two founders and currently Executive Director of the group, is a Mechanical Engineer by education and has spent more than 25 years in the industrial valve manufacturing industry, starting as a field service engineer and culminating as one of the Top-200 Executives in a FTSE-100 company. This corporate experience enables him to implement the appropriate global corporate policies and discipline into the multi-national Solitude Family. Almost “nomadic”, Kit was originally from Malaysia, educated in Singapore and California, and has lived in 3 different states in the USA. He was introduced to scuba in 1989 while on a family holiday to Florida. He has been directly and indirectly involved in scuba diving instruction, organizing and selling dive holiday travel, and dive equipment distribution since 2003. In addition to the sea and scuba, Kit is an avid gardener of tropical plants, frequently enjoying “garden to table” produce.

Andrew Lok

Founder & Managing Director

Andrew Lok – the other founder and current Managing Director of the group, Andrew has been in the scuba diving industry since 1999 but before that, he was introduced to scuba when he was enlisted into the Singapore Naval Diving Unit. Although he did not complete the combat diving training due to medical reasons, the valuable experience kickstarted his journey with scuba, and more importantly the business of the Scuba Industry. Having the experience from operating 4 dive-centre businesses in Singapore, and subsequently moving to Indonesia in 2003 where he began establishing himself internationally when he was recruited as the key member of the company that founded Odyssea Divers, MV Odyssea 1 and Cocotinos Boutique Resorts & Spas. He not only shapes brands that are synonymous with quality and service but believes in bettering lives in the local communities too. His successes are counted by the people whose lives he has affected through his friendship, professionalism, integrity and wisdom. Besides being an avid technology and computer enthusiast, he indulges in cooking for therapy where it shows ultimately his purpose of “putting things together so that others can enjoy”.

Management Team

Jonas Heeb

Resort Manager - Solitude Acacia Resort

Patrick Neumann

Resort Manager - Solitude Lembeh Resort

Anna Manzel

Marketing & Communications - Europe

Earle Ellis

Sales & Marketing - USA

Jonas Heeb, a Swiss national, joins Solitude Acacia Resort as the Resort Manager in Solitude World, bringing extensive diving experience from his previous role as Cruise Director and Technical Manager for a liveaboard in Egypt. His diving journey began in 2009 with a transformative Divemaster Internship in Egypt, leading him to leave his engineering job in Switzerland to pursue a full-time diving career. He has since explored diving opportunities in Egypt, Thailand, Tobago, Italy, and the Philippines.

With a mechanical background, Jonas combines his diving expertise with mechanical proficiency. Fluent in German, his native language, Jonas is well-equipped for his new position.

Outside of work, Jonas immerses himself in cooking, travel, photography, snowboarding, skiing, and underwater macro photography.

Patrick Neumann, from Germany and a PADI OWSI, is the Resort Manager at Solitude Lembeh Resort. Patrick joined us in 2019 from Egypt where he was the Cruise Director and Photo Pro for DeepBlue Cruises in the Red Sea. He is also a professional photographer (www.seathroughmyeyes.com) and a Nauticam Housings Ambassador, participating in competitions, conducting workshops, and writing for magazines. Patrick originally has a background in Economics and Business Management before moving to Thailand to be a Scuba Instructor and Tour leader in Thailand.

Anna Manzel, from Germany, is a PADI OWSI with 6 Specialties. She focuses on the European marketing activities for Solitude. Anna is also directly responsible for all media for Solitude Lembeh Resort and hence works closely with Henry to ensure consistency and coordination. Anna, an avid photographer (www.annaewamanzel.com) who joined us in 2019, was previously a Cruise Director and Scuba Instructor for DeepBlue Cruises in Egypt. Prior to Egypt, she spent almost 7 years in Southeast Asia, with more than 2 years in Indonesia. During this time, she completed her Dive Master training and internship, worked as a DM in Indonesia and Thailand, as well as travelled around exploring the region.

Earle Ellis, our Cruise Director/Boat Manager of Solitude Adventurer in Indonesia, is a PADI MSDT from the USA. He joined us in 2019 from the Maldives where he was a Dive Instructor and Watersports Center Manager at a 5-star resort. Earle originally has a background in Psychology, but left the US in 2009 to pursue a non-corporate career that has taken him to places such as the Caribbean, Central America, Palau, Maldives, Japan, and Southeast Asia. His passions “outside of diving and management” are hiking, camping, and travel.

Jasmine Carey

Marketing & Communications Manager - Worldwide

Miki Mori

Head of Sales & Reservations

Mitch Ejercito

Cruise Director - Solitude One

Jasmine Carey as our new Marketing & Communications Manager to the Solitude Family. With her wealth of experience, Jasmine will play a key role in our continuous efforts to promote ocean-centric tourism and curate extraordinary ocean holiday experiences. Her expertise will guide our marketing and communications strategies, ensuring that we not only connect people with the ocean, but also raise awareness about its significance and the need for a deeper appreciation and connection. We look forward to the contributions Jasmine will make as we endeavour to provide exceptional experiences that leave a lasting impact on our guests and foster a deeper appreciation for the ocean.

Jasmine is widely recognised as a skilled photographer and underwater explorer, celebrated for her emotive, perceptive, and graceful style. Her impressive portfolio includes being featured in prestigious Photo Exhibitions worldwide and producing compelling media content. She has also collaborated on projects aimed at student education, including a notable partnership with the renowned Juilliard School at the Lincoln Centre in New York.

In addition to her professional achievements, Jasmine’s dedication to making a positive impact extends to her role as an approved photographer for Greenpeace. She has actively contributed to various publications, exhibitions, and fundraising and charity events, showcasing her commitment to important causes.

Outside of her work, Jasmine finds inspiration in art and embraces outdoor activities such as hiking and sailing. She also has a passion for discovering new food and cuisines, which adds to her adventurous spirit.

Miki Mori, from Japan, is the first touch-point for our online inquiries as she is responsible for sales and reservations for the Group. She also works closely with Andrew on developing and improving our online Booking and Payment systems. Joining us in 2012, she was one of the “pioneers” of Solitude. Miki began her working journey out of Japan in 2003 when she took her PADI OWSI in Cairns, Australia, and spent time working there, and subsequently Guam, Thailand, Maldives, and Palau, as a diving instructor, dive centre manager, and sales and marketing advisor before “settling down” at a boutique resort in Manado, Indonesia. When not ensuring that our Products are properly prepared to anticipate our guests’ arrival, she loves watching TV dramas and cooking. She is also fluent in English and Bahasa Indonesia.

Mitch Ejercito has been with M/V Solitude One since the day we surveyed the boat before we purchased it. He was heavily involved in our original rebuilding/conversion project, and all subsequent upgrading projects of the vessel. From a deckhand role (Able Seaman) to a skiff pilot and then learning to dive under the tutelage of Silvia Perez and Alfonso Ribote, he moved into the role of dive guide and then dive management in 2015, as well as overseeing vessel drydocking where he further developed his knowledge on technical and refurbishing maintenance and repairs. His experience as an international seafarer, especially as original helmsman for our exploratory voyage to the Federated States of Micronesia, and subsequent management training under Silvia and Alfonso culminated in his appointment as Cruise Director in 2019. When not in his professional role, Mitch loves exploring his home country on his motorcycle.

SOLITUDE MANAGEMENT